I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust
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Radioactive

I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust

Twilight stared at the monument, ignoring the clock in her vision as it ticked away the minutes. Her name was on a memorial. She had died. Had she? She was in a robot suit with a minimal amount of organic matter and only her "spark." Or was it truly her spark? Maybe she was just an AI that was in suit that also had an AI.

Circular thinking, Twilight Sparkle.
All data suggests you are alive.

"What is all this?" She asked, looking around, only now looking around at the other statuary. One was her, but she was taller, older, more regal, with an ethereal mane of her own if the statue was anything to go by. Next to that was one that showed the brash pegasus that was one of her best friends and secret book buddy, Rainbow Dash. Then Pinkie Pie with a manic green and her party cannon, pointing in the direction the barrel was facing as if identifying her target. Lastly, Fluttershy, curled up and demure, surrounded by animal friends. All of them obviously carved by an extremely skilled artisan. Each statue had a small brass plate, and she read those of her friends first.

Fluttershy
Element of Kindness
Friend, Mother (MOTHER?!), Wife
She will be with us always.

General Rainbow Dash
Element of Loyalty
Hero of Cloudsdale
She died so that we could continue the fight.

Pinkamena Diane "Pinkie" Pie
Element of Laughter
Hero of Ponyville
The light in the dark
Her laughter carries us.

Scanning...
Statues are marble, fortified with Alicorn level enchantments against degradation. The statue of you has additional magic woven into it.

"Additional magic?" she asked, approaching it and looking more closely. There was a smaller plate of brass that was wrapped in strong magic.

Twilight Sparkle
Princess of Friendship
LSBFF
Lost in the battle of Ghastly Gorge.

"Lost... that's a vague way to put it. That must be where I was... knocked out for however long it's been," she said, then brushed some dust off the bottom of the plate, "There's more!"

Two lines, faded, appeared where she had wiped away the dust. It was written in non-standard Equestrian, an old writing style found in ancient tomes she once read for fun in the archives.

Sunshine, Sunshine...

She blinked, and smiled sadly, memories of the good times with Cadence flashing through her cortex. She sighed and whispered the second line, "Ladybugs awake..."

If Twilight hadn't been staring at the plate, she would not have noticed the text morph and shift into a new configuration as the magic on the plate shifted around itself.

Clap your hooves

Twilight was excited now, if she still had a heart it would be thumping out of her chest, "And do a little shake!" she blurted.

For a few long seconds nothing happened. Then, the statue groaned and its head tilted toward her, eyes beginning to glow a soft pink as an image was projected next to her, "Twilight... I hope it's you that's seeing this," the shimmering image of Cadence began, "It's been so long and you should be the only who could access this, with our old greeting. This message is a shot in the dark, but we don't have much left...

"It's been 200 years since you vanished. I've been trying to keep us together for so long, but maybe, if there's some chance that you're still out there, and you see this... Please, we need your help. The war is over. It's been over for a long time. You told me that you'd found something that day that could save us. Some way to get the Elements of Harmony working again so we could defeat them. We need that now more than ever. Those of us that are left are as safe as we can be, please find us, help us. I'm doing what I can, but I'm not as strong as you are. I'm not the Element of Magic. I'm rambling, and this spell is running out of memory. Follow Pinkie's directions and you should find us. I miss you so much..." the shade of her foalsitter said before flickering out of existence.

"Pinkie's directions? What does... the way she's pointing!" Twilight shouted when she realized it, "Spark, can you add a marker in my heads up display to keep me going in the right direction based on where the statue of Pinkie is pointing?"

Marker created.
Caution: Marker may be off. Scans indicate statue may have shifted since it was installed.

"Close enough is good enough, I have to find Cadence. She can tell me what's going on, what happened with everything."

Warning: It has been 48 hours since you have awoken. Please allow a run of the REM sleep simulator module to prevent neural decay.

"I... what? Sleep simulation?"

Correct
Operation takes two hours.
Based on previous observations, darkness will fall in 4 hours, after which it will be unsafe to remain on the ground.

"No kidding... Alright, run the program."

Running... Good night, Twilight Sparkle!

The hissing and whirring of a machine kept Twilight company in the quiet of the hospital. It would be better if she hadn't been hooked up to it on life support as her body continued to fail. She stared at the diagrams that surrounded her on the bed and sighed. She picked up one and made a couple of notes on the wing design, emphasizing flight speed and turning were necessary if the design was to be approved for mass production.

A door opened and the alicorn princess of the night walked in, "Are you still working on those, Twilight?" she asked softly, slipping up next to the the smaller mare's bed.

Twilight nodded and spoke with a raspy voice, "Of course, Luna. I have... to finish things here before... my body fails fully..."

"I wish we could figure out why it was happening. First Tia vanished and now you fall ill with a disease that strikes down even an alicorn!"

"I need a few more days... then my designs will be done... and they transfer me to a suit..." the talking took a lot of effort, her breathing controlled by machines as it had been for months now.

Luna picked up a sheet in her magic, "But the sheer degree of this! Your other suits were incredible and didn't require... THIS!" she shouted, waving a hoof at the diagram showing that the suit was less of one and more of a container for essential organs.

"Luna... My body is dying... My magic and mind are untouched... I can do this and... continue to be there for you... and Equestria... I didn't want to tell you... but they had to remove my rear... legs yesterday... Fully necrotic..."

"Your legs? Oh Twilight," the lunar diarch sighed, sobbing quietly as she sat there. She looked over the emaciated form of her dearest companion. Even though her body was failing, her eyes were bright, her mane billowed in the ethereal wind, and that spark was still present. She knew Twilight had the fire to survive but her own doubts couldn't remain hidden, "But this seems so extreme..."

"I don't want to die... Luna... They will save everything they... can of what's left... but there isn't much... that still works..."

"I hope you're making the right decision."

"I'm making the... only decision... that will let me live even... a partial life..."

Luna nodded and leaned over to nuzzle Twilight. The purple alicorn nuzzled back and smiled slightly, keeping her lips closed to hide her slowly rotting teeth. She hadn't been able to identify what was causing her body to decay, but once she was in a suit, she had plenty of time to determine it from her own remains. The thought was a bit morbid, but Equestria was facing chaos. Luna needed her, Equestria needed her. It wouldn't do any good if she died here.

"Two more days... and I'll be right as rain..." she said, running a magical touch down Luna's back to comfort her, her own front limbs useless. The machine beeped as it shifted into a night-time mode and Twilight quickly became drowsy, "Good night... See you tomorrow..."

Twilight ran down the wide hallway of the castle, metallic hooves clacking off the marble floors. As she darted around a sharp corner, she used the jets on her wings to assist the turn instinctively. She'd adapted to the suit quickly. Having it wired directly into what remained of your nervous system allowed her to make modifications and adjustments as fast as the onboard AI could handle. That speed and agility helped her now as she dodged between guards and entered the main audience chamber where Luna was currently addressing a small group of officers.

"Luna!"

"Twilight, what is it?"

"An attack! They're coming through the crystal caverns. I've stalled them with a cave-in but we need to evacuate the remaining civilians NOW."

"Understood, Generals, Admirals, to your stations. We will not let them take Canterlot. Twilight, get to your safe. If this is their final push their leaders may be present. We may have need of the Elements."

"But..."

"I know, Twilight. I miss them too, but we have to do anything we can. Celestia was able to use all the Elements on her own, and you are at least as strong as she ever was. I know you can do it."

Twilight nodded stiffly, mind turning as she sprung into the air and flew off toward the secret location she had stowed the Elements of Harmony after the death of Pinkie Pie.

Twilight Sparkles eyes snapped on and she simulated gasping for air. The sky was beginning to darken so she did not have much time to process what she saw until she was safely in the air. Leaping up, she flew high as the sky turned black and the creatures began to form and meander about, "What was that?"

Memories that have been repaired will be restored during REM simulation.
This has been determined to be the safest and least shocking method of doing so.

She dodged the swing of an extended tentacle and decided against speaking out loud, as it seemed to attract the attention of the monsters, Were any others restored?

Negative.
Repairs still in progress.
Caution: Inbound airborne threat, type unknown.

She blinked and shifted, looking West to see... nothing, Where is it?

Target faded.

Twilight silently cursed to herself and accelerated, intent on finding Cadence, or whoever was left in her stead.

Analysis completed. Statue's Thaumic decay suggested construction 532 years ago. The message spell was added 330 years ago.

Twilight was shocked. She was behind the times by over 500 years. It could have been even longer, for all she know. How long had the war been going on before her disappearance. She was processing this information when a warning lit up her vision and something collided into her from the side. She spun in the air, correcting herself automatically and spun to locate her assailant.

Briefly, she caught sight of something in the dark, something bio-luminescent that turned and vanished into the darkness. Her vision shifted to another view and she tracked it by it's radar signature as it turned back towards her and spit something out of its mouth. She tried to dodge but it hit her wing and sent alarms across her systems. She hurriedly channeled energy into her shell to charge it and burn off the substance, simultaneously activating a shielding system and lighting up the area in a soft purple glow.

Another blast hit her from behind, staggering her with the force of impact. It must have been a much larger creature.

Additional targets detected. Weapons online.

She felt something in her chassis shift and noticed weapons sprouting from the front of her wings. She rolled and began to fly, attempting to find one of the beasts that attacked her in the darkness. She didn't really want to fight but when a third blast slammed into her and nearly knocked her out of the sky, some deeply hidden part of her snapped on.

Maneuvering with practiced ease, she waited until SPARK confirmed target lock before opening fire. Magic pulses emitted from the barrels of her wing guns and raked over the form in the darkness, bio-luminescent blood spraying as it fell out of the sky. One of the larger monsters on the ground snatched it off the dirt and it disappeared into the mass of flesh. It looked like some kind of manta ray in the brief moments it was lit up by her attack. Her radar showed her the other one and she banked into a tight right climb before flipping over and sending another burst of her weapons into the beast. It was much larger than her previous opponent and took the hits without flinching, though it did stream blood behind it as it flew.

It was larger, and less maneuverable than she was, so Twilight easily lined it up for another burst, choosing to use a heavier shot of magic from her own. This blast tore a hoofball sized hole straight through it and the ray crumbled, falling to the ground in the darkness. Only too late did Twilight realize she was too low. Her only notification was a mass of flesh and goo slamming her to the ground.

More warnings lit up her data-feed as her shield broke and the chassis itself sustained damage. Her armor identified some kind of acid in use and she pushed all of her energy into the engines in her wings, blasting straight into the sky, covered in ichor. Looking down, she saw the ruins of the beast she had unintentionally flown through to escape collapse into a pile of mush.

This was already too much to take, and now she was covered in what scanned as slightly acidic, highly chaotic ichor. She pulsed energy through her shield systems to burn it off before flying higher and going dark, hopefully avoiding any further events during the night. Meeting the flying creatures simply brought her more questions. She had to find out what happened. There had to be some explanation for the state of the world. If her own memories weren't available, then Cadence had to know. Someone had to know, and she had to get there.

Narrowing her eyes she coaxed a little more speed out of her wings and aimed at the waypoint on her hud.

Author's Note

I uh, didn't know quite how to end this one.